1972
May 17: Tisch Hall, an academic building housing the College of Business and Public Administration, dedicated.

Sep 1: University Without Walls, later known as the Gallatin School, created to offer students alternatives to a traditional liberal arts education.

Dec 16: Elmer Holmes Bobst Library and Study Center dedicated. Unique features of this red sandstone building, the work of Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, are its twelve-story atrium and inlaid marble floor based on Palladio’s design for the Church of San Giorgio Maggiore in Venice.

Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, located at 50 Washington Square South, dedicated.

1973
Sep 1: Washington Square and University College created through merger of NYU’s two liberal arts colleges as a result of the sale of the University’s Bronx campus at University Heights.

Sep 1: School of Engineering merges with Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute to form Polytechnic University.

1974
Jun 3: Silver Towers, a student and faculty residence hall, dedicated.

School of Education renamed School of Education, Health, Nursing, and Arts Professions (SEHNAP).

1975
Apr 9: Grey Art Gallery created.

Nov 11: Inauguration of President John C. Sawhill.

1976
Mar: Gallatin Division established within the University Without Walls.

May: All-University Commencement returns to Washington Square and to Washington Square Park. The park typically hosts around 6,000 graduates and 13,000 guests in what is the city’s largest annual outdoor event.

Oct: Financial difficulties, which coincided with the University’s departure from the University Heights campus, were eased by the sale of the C.F. Mueller Company for $115 million. The Law Center Foundation had received ownership of the pasta company through a trust fund. The sale, for both the School of Law and the University at large, provided a life-saving transfusion of money. On the day of the sale, the university’s new vice president for academic affairs, L. Jay Oliva, said, “It was perhaps the most historic moment since NYU’s founding.”

1977
Oct: University Institute for Hebrew and Judaic Studies established to coordinate the existing programs at SEHNAP and Arts and Science. The Institute offers degree programs and sponsors public events.

Institute of French Studies established at the Graduate School of Arts and Science. The institute is the first comprehensive program in the United States devoted to a humanistically-oriented, interdisciplinary approach to French studies, emphasizing history, sociology, politics, and literature rather than language.

1978
Feb 13: Groundbreaking for new Hebrew Union College building, built on property acquired from NYU. The groundbreaking marks the beginning of an academic affiliation between NYU and Hebrew Union College.

May: Graduate Center of Applied Science established, signaling a revival in interest in applied science and technology.

Sep 21: Arnold and Marie Schwartz Hall of Dental Sciences dedicated. Together, the Schwartz Hall of Dental Sciences and the Weissman Building contain a total of 506 operatories, each of which is fitted with modern dental equipment. The operatories are designed in 16-unit modules, each containing a waiting room, offices, X-ray facilities, and a seminar room for instruction and consultation.

1979
Apr 3: Arnold and Marie Schwartz Health Care Center at Medical Center dedicated. The 15-story facility was designed to lower the costs of healthcare through the performance of uncomplicated surgery without hospital admission. The Day Surgery Center was the first completely self-contained ambulatory surgery section in the New York metropolitan area.

Oct 8: Dr. Ivan Bennett appointed Acting President.

Dec 6: NYU’s Midtown Center dedicated. The center, which occupies several floors of 11 West 42nd Street, houses the permanent headquarters of the School of Continuing Education’s Real Estate Institute as well as Women Advancing Through Career Help, a women’s career program.

School of Retailing closes.

1980
Mar: Dedication of Lebost Wind Turbine on top of the Barney Building, as part of scientific research into alternative energy sources.

Sep 26: President John C. Sawhill resigns, while Dr. Ivan Bennett continues as Acting President.

1981
Oct 24: Inauguration of President John Brademas.

Oct 24: Jerome C. Coles Sports and Recreation Center dedicated.

Oct: As part of NYU’s sesquicentennial celebration, Mayor Edward Koch declares October 13-20 “NYU Week” at a ceremony at City Hall.

1982
Feb: School of Arts renamed Tisch School of the Arts.

Oct: A new theater design studio at 725 Broadway opens at Tisch School of the Arts.

1984
Nov: $14.8 million purchase of two East Village sites on Third Avenue that will eventually accommodate 1,000 undergraduate and graduate students.

Dec: The Dental School makes headlines when over 5,000 patients attend its free five-day dental screening.

1985
NYU announces a 15-year campaign to raise $1 billion by the year 2000. NYU marks the successful completion of its Billion Dollar Campaign (five years early) on March 15, 1995, at a gala celebration.

Faculty Resource Network, an initiative devoted to faculty development and undergraduate teaching, established.

1987
Mar: The Skirball Center of Hebrew and Judaic Studies established within the Faculty of Arts and Science.

May 14: Leonard Stern Hall formally dedicated as a new dormitory complex.

Oct: Purchase of two new apartment buildings, part of the three-building Carlyle Court complex as undergraduate residence halls at Union Square.

Dec: Newly designed, “meaner” bobcat mascot costume unleashed at a men’s basketball game.

Men’s and women’s basketball teams compete in new athletic conference: the University Athletic Association.

1988
Apr 5: University-wide smoke out held before a new city law, which restricted smoking in conference rooms, hallways, rest rooms, and shared offices went into effect.

Oct 20: Graduate School of Business Administration and undergraduate School of Business and Public Administration merge to become the Leonard R. Stern School of Business

Dec: NYU buys the third Carlisle Court building in Union Square for additional dormitory space.

1989
Jan: The University Hospital renamed Tisch Hospital in honor of the families of Laurence A. Tisch and Preston Robert Tisch.

Sep: Graduate School of Public Administration renamed Robert F. Wagner School of Public Service.

Nov 13: Dedication of the Alexander S. Onassis Center for Hellenic Studies, located in a restored Greenwich Village townhouse at 58 West 10th Street.

1990-2006 >